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Beckerman

November 11, 2010

Ummm, yeah, so sorry for dropping off the blog radar screen. In my defense, I left for two weeks in Australia the day after the marathon and returned with a charming little cold that kept me out of a work for an additional three days when I got back. Much to Partner's delight, I still have a nagging cough that likes to make an appearance when we should be sleeping.

And thank you very, very much for all your congratulatory comments about the marathon. Sorry for being a schmuck and not replying to everyone.

I had full intentions to post when I was in Australia... took a USB drive and even preloaded the pictures for this post in typepad. But it didn't happen. However, let's move on to what is happening, mainly, this post now. Oh, except, before we begin, I should say that you ought to come back in a day or two for something big... I believe that is the correct knit blog parlance for - I'm going to have a giveaway. Just sayin'.

Several months ago, a guy moved in to the house next door with five (yes, I said male and five) cats. He pretty much lets them free-range through the neighborhood. Beckerman has become OBSESSED with these cats. To the point of sitting at a hole in the back fence and watching for one of these cats for 2-3 hours without moving. If he had thumbs, he'd Kinnear them. It's a little weird, and a lot disheartening.

So, in the way that people (and by people, I mean Partner and I) are apt to personify their pets, we arrived at the obvious solution that Beckerman was lonely. To backtrack a little, Beckerman was a seven-week-old stray that Boy #1 picked up from the street at around 10:00 pm to my cries of, "No!!!! He probably has fleas!!!!"

Which, for the record, he did. And worms. If it was up to my (occasionally) rational and organized brain, we'd never have got a cat because the house wasn't "cat-proofed," et cetera.

Anyway, back to the current story. I may have thought Beckerman was lonely, but we clearly weren't ready for a second cat. However, we'd found out there was an animal shelter down the street and had looked at the kittens a few times. On Partner's birthday, I came home early from work with the idea we'd go look at the kittens because it always makes him happy, and hey, it was his birthday. When I walked in the door, he told me he'd been to the shelter and adopted a kitten. We'll just skip my shocked disbelief and worry, for the purposes of this post.

We couldn't bring her home right away because she needed to be fixed (which is a California law that I understand the good intention of, but I find really really REALLY wrong to fix kittens at 6-8 weeks -- and that is a very poorly-constructed aside, but I'm going to stop trying to fix it). We didn't care for her shelter name. One day Partner was talking about her and just said, "Sasha..."

Beckerman meets his new sister, Sasha:

I wish I had video. Beckerman hissed at her in the cage. When we opened the cat carrier and she tried to sniff him (because, she was raised with other kittens and that is what cats do), he ran away and hid on the top of the washer. Yes, our 13 pound cat hid from the two pound kitten that had just had surgery.

Sasha's first night at home. Food!

Explorin'!!! Look Mom, no cage!

Things did not go well between her and Beckerman. I'd worried about this and my fears were realized. They fought. She usurped Beckerman from the bed, where he has slept since he was a very sick kitten. Beckerman has never (as far as we can tell, aside from critical nursing) been around other cats and didn't understand butt-sniffing, play biting or any thing else. He actually doesn't meow like a normal kitten and we think it's because he never had a model to teach him.

A little late, we read that you shouldn't introduce new cats when one has had surgery because they smell weird. And that you shouldn't put their food next to each other. In fact, after a few days, we regrouped and exiled girl kitten to one room, only letting her out when Beckerman was outside. The idea being to slowly introduce a new cat smell to a house.

Partner had done a lot of research and (a bit of) thinking before getting Sasha. He'd read that it was better to get a kitten that was smaller (not too hard), the opposite sex, and of a similar temperment. Beckerman has become pretty reserved and Sasha was very timid at the shelter.

That didn't last. She doesn't like to stay still. Partner says she has two modes - sleep and play.

Sit still!

That's better, now everyone can see how cute you are. She's a grey tabby, but she has small bits of fur that are light brown. One of her brother's was actually a brown tabby, with no grey at all. She has nearly perfect circles on either flank (you can see it, kind of, in the running shot above).

These days, Beckerman's quiet moments are few and far between:

But things are getting better... it's happening more frequently, but this is one of the first bed truces.

He still looks a bit wary, if you ask me.

But, they do play vigorous games of chase and while I was in Australia, they actually starting grooming each other. In fact, one night in my sickness induced state, I woke up and watched Beckerman get up and groom Sasha while she was sleeping. Melt.

She and her brother share the same love of soccer.

Particularly trying to catch the little men:

Oh, and I may have been a bit apprehensive of getting another kitten, but how can you resist this much cuteness?

Have you noticed? She really likes to snuggle.

And she's her mama's girl. Now I'm not the only one in the house that dreams of string.

Though I think what we do with the string might be different. We're working on that. You know, so I can knit again.

Her naughty habit of biting the yarn and needles (as well as laundry baskets, hangers, fingers, double-sided "keep-you-cats-from-scratching-snort-snort-as if-laughing-all-the-way-the-bank" tape, and her brother) as well as other kitten behaviors (climbing into the refrigerator, attacking her brother while he is sleeping, knocking over all my jewelry) has earned her a middle name.

July 11, 2010

Hey! El Nino is over! La Nina is making her way here, but at the mo, we're back to (near)-normal. Which means it's finally warm around these parts. Well, except for the 60 degree weather we had last week....

BUT, finally, the garden is producing fruit! A mere 100-and-something days after it was planted, my early girl tomato plant finally has a red tomato. Never mind that it is smaller than a cherry tomato. Never mind that I'm supposed to have tomatoes at 75 days. That's probably just a (very rough) guide (that assumes good conditions). Whatever! A tomato! My end all, be all, favorite vegetable! Wahoo!

Unfortunately, it got some kind of mold... too much moisture.

It's gone... in one bite. It was soooo good!

Here is what our garden looked like before:

And now:

Lettuce: We had to replant some new plants; a very good yield from the first round, but not great. Unfortunately, the cilantro bolted. I didn't know what bolting was until it was too late.

Strawberry plant = fail. Jury is still out on the basil plant.

Snap peas = yum! We have put the first batch in stirfry and I ate some off the plants today. It reminded me of picking peas on my grandparents farm. This is the 100% recycled trellis we made: twine, branches, and posts left behind in the yard from previous renters.

Peppers are finally growing, but still no fruit. Well, there was one pepper, but Beckerman sent it flying while defending his yard from the "evil" cat next door, Max. *sigh* There are two other pepper plants, but they are less promising.

The thyme plant (peeking behind the pepper plant) is growing and we've been able to harvest some for drying. We could have harvested it fresh, but I broke a branch off, so now we're drying it. It smells wonderful!

I am so excited about the spaghetti squash! There are a few others on the plant. We'd had others, but I now suspect that kidden may have knocked them off. I'm not sure how else to account for their mysterious disappearance and the fact that the addition of gates have allowed these to grow. That puppy is about 2 inches long. Woot!

What do you get when you combine a cat litter container and an invasive plant? Great yield of mint, apparently.

The cabbage has been a colossal fail. We're pretty sure it's not savoy perfection cabbage, which should form heads, despite what the little plastic thingy said. We have something that doesn't form heads, and we're pretty sure it's past it's prime. No matter though - because grey aphids have invaded. We threw 4 of 6 plants in the compost bucket. I'm pretty sure the other two will follow soon. I guess the grey aphids decided we weren't using them, so they'd move in.

All kinds of yummy tomatoes that are growing. I can't wait until they are ready. I have a dream of eating tomatoes off the vine, warmed by the afternoon sun.

Did I mention that I love tomatoes? We have four plants: one early girl, an heirloom roma, a common cherry, and a green grape (small, cherry-like) plant.

Today we cleared some branches with the hope that we'll get more sun in the yard and will reap the benefits. I don't know why I'm including this, but when I was scanning the pics, I discovered a gratuitious picture of yours truly, pruning tomato plants. Don't worry, I spared you (me?) the close up of my double-chin.

Beckerman likes the garden. No, I have no idea why he decided to hang out in a "cage." And yes, he did this all on his own. Oh, that would be the dead strawberry plant and the ??? basil plant.

Later he took in the late afternoon sun:

And in a completely unrelated note, I was able to finish a knitted item in ONE DAY. The burp washcloth! It was a lot of fun. I'm glad it only took one day, because when I mentioned to new daddy that the baby was due on Monday (tomorrow) he replied, "oh the baby was born four days ago." Yes, it only took 73 yards. It's no cardigan, but hopefully the new mama is happy. Apparently she's trying to learn to knit, so I left her with the remaining cotton to practice. Baby J was fussy, so we didn't spend too much time with him. But he's right next door, so I hope to see him again soon.

Hope you all had a great weekend too. I will now finish my shot(s) of Bailey's and go to bed, where I probably should have been awhile ago.

July 08, 2010

For the Fourth of July, we headed to Mount Shasta, staying at the KOA campground. A first time camper, Beckerman was very happy. Unfortunately, he REALLY DIDN'T like the six-hour RV trip so I don't know if there will be another camping trip in his future or not.

July 03, 2010

The house we live in has wainscoting around the living room. In nine months, Beckerman has decided to get up there once. He shows no interest at all and then all of the sudden last week, it's the most interesting place in the world. Here are some photos of his adventure.

I can make this shot, I've been watching World Cup...

I think I'll put this on the floor so I can play with it later.

there is a big grey kitten on this wall... I'm not afraid of him

yes, this will make a good place to watch for attack squirrels...

that edge looks a little too narrow for me... I better not jump up there...

okay, I think I'm done now... I'm going to get down.

On a completely unrelated note, I have to brag about my chard. This is a full size dinner plate full of organic homegrown chard.

Brag, brag, brag. ;~P

We're in Mt Shasta for the Fourth of July. Partner, Boy #2, and I are running the 5 mile run. Boy #1 is the smart one - he's doing the two mile walk that comes with food samples. Hope you're all having a relaxing holiday weekend. I'm shutting off the internet now and tuning out. Lots of knitting progress being made, trust me. I just forgot the download cable.